Visit Date: March 13, 2025

When picking a place to enjoy a meal out, Sam and I always end up at some familiar chain restaurant. This year though, we’re committed to branching out and exploring more of Pittsburgh’s food scene. A Thursday double date brought us to what some may argue are the city’s best burgers. 

Moonlit Burgers, which was founded in 2021, has locations in Dormont and Uptown and is opening a third location in Sewickley soon. The fast-casual place specializes in burgers, obviously, but also offers vegetarian and chicken options, as well as a few salads. They also serve Millie’s ice cream.

As for burgers, these are smashburgers (thin patties) served on a potato roll, with a few toppings and sauces. This is not a build-your-own gourmet burger joint (like Burgatory or Stack’d), so accommodations as far as toppings go are more limited.

We visited the original Dormont location on a pleasant Thursday afternoon, and after walking around the area for a while, worked up quite an appetite. The exterior is inviting and offers plenty of outdoor seating if that’s your thing (it’s very rarely ours). The inside has a full bar along with seating, as well as quite a few tables, chairs, and booths around.

Once you enter the inside, a hostess will ask if you’re doing dine-in or take-out, and then she’ll assign you a table to eat at if you’re doing the former. Then, you go up and order from the counter, and your food is brought to your table. It’s a mix of sit-down and counter-service, and I really liked this format because it cut down on the confusion of where to sit

I ordered a ‘Classic Moonlit Double’ ($10) which is a double patty, griddled onions, American cheese, kosher dill pickles, and their signature moon sauce on a Martin’s potato roll. This was a great burger – maybe even my favorite burger (that I can remember)! My biggest qualm with burgers is that they often fall apart on the first bite, or that the toppings slide around, making it so that it’s hard to get a uniform bite every time. I didn’t have either of those issues with this burger -— the burger stayed together on every bite and the toppings were arranged so that each bite had a bit of everything in it. The bun was soft, the patties were well-seasoned, and the burger overall was filling but not greasy. I would absolutely order this again!

Sam had a ‘#4 Best Seller’ ($12) which is a double patty, American cheese, griddled onions, signature moon sauce, pickles, fries, coleslaw, and hot sauce on Martin’s potato roll. He said it was pretty unique, and while he was skeptical of the coleslaw at first, all came together really nicely on the burger. According to him, it was reminiscent of a Primanti’s sandwich — not so much in taste but in concept and ingredients. He also commented that the hot sauce added a nice kick of flavor that rounded it out well.  Overall, he said it was a great burger!   

We also split the ‘Smash Fries’ ($12) which is an order of shoestring fries topped with a double patty, cheese sauce, signature moon sauce, griddled onions, kosher dill pickles, and pickled jalapeños. We both really enjoyed this, but Sam more so than me, going as far as to say that he would order this as an entree over a burger. For him, he felt they were some of his favorite loaded fries he’s ever had, not so much for the fries themselves but for the toppings. But for me, there was something a bit too salty that overpowered the dish – maybe coming from the cheese sauce. This is a solid appetizer though, and definitely good value at $12 since it has everything that comes on my burger over a pretty heaping bed of french fries.  

Our friend ordered a ‘Bacon Double Cheeseburger’ ($12) which comes as a double patty with iceberg lettuce, tomato, sweet onion, bacon of course, and garlic dijonnaise sauce on a Martin’s potato roll, although she ordered it without some of the additional toppings. Even without the fluff, she really likes this as well! Her husband ordered the same as Sam and echoed similar thoughts as the table.

While the prices are not atrociously high, they are a little steep considering that the burgers do not come with fries or drinks. The ‘Smash Fries’ are probably the best value since it’s basically a burger with fries minus the bun. Looking back on things, we definitely did not need two burgers and the loaded fries appetizer, which would make our dinners in the future more affordable. While the prices are higher than other burger places for what you get, I think that the quality of the burger is worth it. Overall, all of us really enjoyed our meal here, and we would return for another!

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Have you ever tried Moonlit Burgers before? What did you think? Who do you think has the best burger spot in Pittsburgh? Let us know in the comments!